The Princess of Fairy Tail High

I also hate roses

Fairy Tail High has a strange tradition every Valentine's Day, which is highly endorsed by Master Makarov. Every girl is given a fake rose with their name on a little tag attached to the stem. Then, the girls give their one and only rose to a guy, whoever they want. At the end of the day, whichever guy has the most roses gets to do a little raffle with the name tags, and whoever's name they pick they have to go on a Valentine's Day date with them. It's a pretty horrific tradition.

Especially considering I've had the most roses these past two years.

The first year I actually picked Erza's name, but she explained that she was too nervous to give her rose to anyone else. Plus, since we were relatively comfortable with each other, we had a good time without it getting too romantic. The second year, I picked out some freshman girl I had never seen before, who had apparently known everything about me. It was unpleasant, to say the least. This year I'm really hoping I won't get the most roses. Fairy Tail is a really small school, but I won with numbers around 64 the first year, and then 82. Please don't let that number grow.

~

"I see the roses are out," Gray places a hand on my shoulder. I wince, but not at his touch. Moments before he arrived, some girl ran past me while shoving her flower into my hands. When I turn to face Gray, I'm frozen in place.

"No kidding," I say, loosening my jaw.

"Well, if the trend continues, get ready for an entire day like that, bro!" Then he leaves me to go to his next class. Well it's easy for him, since he and Juvia have been smoothing things over since that sleepover. He still won't tell me what exactly happened, just that he's glad it did. Whatever it is.

I sigh and go to put the plastic flower in my locker. When I open it, two more fall out. PIcking them up, I see a third that stayed in place. I don't even know how those girls got in my locker, but now I have four and counting. It's only 8:15. I close the locker door and rest my forehead against it.

"Natsu?" A quiet, soft voice asks. I groan and roll my head to face Lisanna. "Are you... okay?"

"Sorry, I'm fine Lisanna."

"Oh." Her voice is really timid. I guess those girls are really getting to her. "You're still going to help me though, right?"

"Yeah, sure. Later."

She perks up a little bit, her voice getting louder and stronger. "Okay, great! I'll see you in class, Natsu!" She walks away, clutching books to her chest. I grab my own stuff and make my way to my first class.

~

Three roses were waiting on my desk. Five girls during the class period stopped by my class just to hand me roses. Given, some girls stopped by to give other guys their flowers too, but I had the most already. I lean back in my chair. Next to me, Gajeel is staring at the two roses he was just handed.

"I- I have a girlfriend?" He poses this as a question. "What do those girls think I'm going to do with these?"

I get an idea, "you can prank someone with those, man! Somehow, secretly give them to another guy." That will also help my chances of not winning this thing. I don't even know if you could call it a win.

"Good idea. I already have like, seven others." Gajeel shakes his head.

"Oh man, what does Levy think about that?"

"You think I told her?!" Gajeel looks at me, shocked.

"I'm sure she knows, without you telling her."

He seems to think about that. "Sure, you're probably right. I don't know, but she hasn't said anything before. I'll just make sure I don't win." I smile at his loyalty.